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Libyan Youth Movement says it is Gaddafi who is on drugs

ELEANOR HALL: Ahmed Sawalem is a member of the Libyan Youth Movement and while he's based in London, he has been in regular contact with members of his family and protesters inside Libya.

I asked him for his reaction to the Colonel Gaddafi's statement today that al-Qaeda is driving this uprising.

AHMEND SAWALEM: Well, if we follow the events from the beginning, I think it was very simple that people wanted change. It was nothing about Islamists behind this. We just wanted our freedom. We wanted our country back.

I think he accused us of being drug addicts- I think he's the one on drugs. We simply think that he's out of his mind. His statements have been very contradicting.

His son, obviously, one day he comes and speaks ‘the country is free, there's nothing happening’, whereas on the ground everyone can see that there's been fighting, there's a lot of people who have died in the eastern parts and in the western parts people are actually inside the houses fearing for their lives.

The regime is very- I think has lost it, as well as being unable to actually speak to the people and speak for the people. I think the whole country is united under one voice that we don't want this family to stay in power any longer.

ELEANOR HALL: We spoke yesterday to one Libyan who said that people in Benghazi, where he was, wanted the US to bomb Gaddafi's compound. The international community has not ruled out military action. Is that what the opposition movement wants?

AHMEND SAWALEM: Well, to be honest this is a very difficult situation for us. What we don't want is for Libya to become like Iraq, for example. We don't want foreign intervention after this regime collapses. People gave their chests and they run against those mercenaries with their chests wide open.

They're saying, ‘We are asking for freedom. We don't want, we don't care if we die’.

So we want to finish this. I know it's very difficult with Colonel Gaddafi being in power and having this control and saying he will not let go until his last breath, but at the same time his regime is collapsing day after day.

If they impose the no-fly zone that will be very helpful because no mercenaries can come in, no weapons from anywhere else can actually get into the country. That's something that we encourage and we were happy to hear that.

But for a military action, this is a difficult scenario at the moment and it's the oil that- we don't think, but we are sure is actually a concern for the international community. But we've asked the international community to step in a while back. It's taken them 10 days to actually react to such atrocities that was evident on the ground.

ELEANOR HALL: Well, at a meeting in Geneva, foreign ministers from around the globe have just signed a declaration calling on Gaddafi to step down. Will this have any influence on either Colonel Gaddafi or those who still support the regime?

AHMEND SAWALEM: It will add pressure on the people following him, because they know that this regime is more or less done. So people actually will defect and now we've heard that there's been some internal conflict.

ELEANOR HALL: Are you worried about how Gaddafi might react to this increased international pressure, that instead of prompting him to leave, it could provoke him to take even more deadly action towards Libyans?

AHMEND SAWALEM: Obviously at what cost, the civilians cost, he doesn't fear for, even if it reaches a million dead people. He's out of his mind.

We are surprised that actually- The West has actually dealt with this person before. From what we've seen so far, this guy can do anything. It's very possible for him to do something insane. So we are having this fear and he's the one actually trying to get this civil war because he's saying that the country will be in chaos, which obviously is not on the ground.

Everyone is united under one voice that we just want this regime to be out. We’ve had enough.

ELEANOR HALL: You say that you're surprised that the Western leaders dealt with Muammar Gaddafi, but if people inside Libya have had such contempt for him - and clearly many in the army haven't given him their full support - how is it that he has maintained power for this long?

AHMEND SAWALEM: Well, it's been by force, it's been by killing people. We inside, as Libyans, we've seen how brutal this regime was. I mean if you can recall back in 1996 in a prison called Abu Salim, 1,200 innocent prisoners killed in one hour.

So we know this regime is very brutal.

ELEANOR HALL: Now you're in contact with many of the opposition leaders throughout Libya. What's your sense of just how much of the country they now control.

AHMEND SAWALEM: What they regime is controlling is absolutely nothing now. It's just basically people are not willing to go out because they're fearing for their lives, especially I'm talking about the Western side of things - Tripoli specifically.

We've seen in Misrata, people have actually gone out and they're in control - in Zawia, in neighbouring cities around Tripoli. So the majority of Libya is actually with the people.

We know it's not 100 per cent, obviously. It's maybe just 2 per cent of people are behind this person. He is destroying the country and he's willing to do anything in his power before he leaves to make sure that the Libyans will never see a good day in their lives.

ELEANOR HALL: What's your greatest fear about what he might do in that regard?

AHMEND SAWALEM: The worst that could happen, we heard that he tried to poison the water to certain cities and they were stopped. To be honest, it's very difficult to say but we are hoping that he will be finished from within.

He is a killer, he's a murderer.

ELEANOR HALL: Well Tripoli is still in the control of Gaddafi forces. We've managed to get lines through to some people in there over the last few days but communication is difficult.

Are you able to gauge at this point just what's happening and how much fear there is?

AHMEND SAWALEM: Well, people are running out of supplies and they need some medical aid. You know, the population of Tripoli is quite big and there's nothing coming in or going out.

At the same time also there's a lot of kidnapping, which people are worried about because we don't know where these people are taken. Are they going to be used as- when they get to, the protesters are going to be used as shields? So they've been take, killed or hidden - no one knows anything.

There's a lot of kidnapping in Sabratha and Tripoli and the city of Zawia and that is the fear that people are having - if they step out of their doors they might be taken. But people are still determined and everyone from Tripoli that I speak to, he goes ‘We will see you on the other side when Libya is free’.